All businesses looking into operating outside of their own country must be aware of different cultures, methods of operation, banking and regulations from your home country. Small businesses require more upfront assessment of risk and opportunity because they do not have the human and financial resources to learn from their mistakes. It is usually one and done either success or failure.

Following are a number of factors that could be inhibiting small businesses but with support from knowledgeable resources in international trade, country uniqueness and funding avenues these challenges can be overcome and higher probability of success ensured. ​​

Country regulatory legislation may be different in each of the 27 EU member countries and these may be changed at the will of each country to the disadvantage of Canadian companies within or to enter their jurisdiction. From our assessment currently within CETA there is not dispute resolution so there would be no assistance from the Canadian government on regulations changes that harm Canadian companies or prevent them from doing business in the country. There are examples currently in the AgriFood and Seafood sectors as a result of a unilateral regulation change by individual EU countries. In these cases Canadian companies may not have assumed access to these counties markets.

For those that think government trade missions are the answer they may be if you have done your homework, lined up high probability buyers or partners and have agreements ready for signing. In many cases small businesses are looking singularly at the trade mission as an opportunity to obtain international business. If the homework has not been done as previously outlined and a budget for a return trip is not in place then the trade mission is an expensive vacation. Trade mission are good if it considered a place for a face to face to finalize a deal.

There are significant opportunities for small businesses to sell into EU countries leveraging CETA. CETA opens doors to opportunities that may have been closed previously due to tariffs. As we have stated before success requires doing the research and accessing the expertise to provide the process, the unique knowledge of the country targeted and access to business networks for on the ground support.